Earlier this week, State Senator George Runner made an announcement to his fourteen Senate Republican Colleagues — after four and a half years as Chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, through multiple Leaders, he would at the end of this month be stepping aside from his leadership post.

I had a chance to speak with Senator Runner last evening about his decision, and he was very candid and straightforward about his reason for stepping down… Runner is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the State Board of Equalization seat currently held by conservative Bill Leonard. Leonard is precluded from seeking re-election due to term limits. Runner will be in a contested primary with fellow State Senator Roy Ashburn (whom FR readers will remember rather famously provided a deciding vote to massively raise incomes, sales and the car tax last February) and two former Assemblymembers — Barbara Alby (who serves as Leonard’s Chief Deputy) and Alan Nakanishi.

"Serving as Chairman of… Read More

Last year I penned a column about “Greenwashing” where I highlighted companies like Whole Food Markets who, undoubtedly using survey data showing that some consumers really want to try to be more conscious of the environment and our ecology in their day to day living, promote themselves as being “green” through gimmicks.

In the case of Whole Foods, I lambasted them for their move from regular plastic grocery bags to new “reusable” cloth bags – since there was plenty of scientific data out there to show that this did not achieve real gains in terms of being more conscious of the environment, but certainly made potential Whole Foods customers “feel good” – which was their intention.

I have been meaning to circle back around to this… Read More

This just in from Cameron Smyth, the Chairman of the Assembly Republican Caucus…

No Class in the Assembly Education Committee By Cameron Smyth, Assembly Republican Caucus Chair Several weeks ago, members of the Traditional Values Coalition and the California Republican Assembly were in Sacramento testifying against SB 572 (Leno) in the Assembly Education Committee. SB 572 is, of course, the Harvey Milk Day bill that has sparked an uproar that reaches beyond just the conservative community.

I oppose SB 572, and will vote against it on the Assembly Floor (as I did with last year’s AB 2567). I also opposed HR 17, recognizing June 2009 as LGBT Pride Month, but was in my district on legislative business when it was brought up for a floor vote.

Today, however, I want to draw people’s attention to the way the conservative leaders who testified in the Assembly Education Committee were treated by liberal members of the committee, and to the way the chair of that committee allowed her members to dispense with any sense of decorum or respect for the witnesses in opposition… Read More

The bad news continues to pour in as California faces the worst recession since the 1930’s.

First, California lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs in the past year and nearly 1,500 manufacturing jobs in November. In fact, more than 536,000 jobs have been lost in the sector since the decline started in Dec. 2000 — nearly a 28 percent decline.

While most western state’s manufacturing sectors have also lost jobs, California’s manufacturing situation is far worse. As a matter of fact, California’s costs to do business is 24 percent higher than the national average and contributes to its manufacturing segments lagging behind key western states which compete for manufacturing jobs – jobs that provide (or did provide) hard working California families with upwardly mobile, high paying job opportunities.

The second major problem is that since January of 2001 the private sector has experienced a 2% decline in jobs. Given the recession we are living through, that would provide a great deal of explanation. Unfortunately, during the same time period, government jobs have grown 7%. This is the wrong way street California has been… Read More

Capitol Resource Family Impact and the California Republican Assembly both sent out alerts to their supporters this week, warning them that there are rumors in the capitol Republican assemblymembers may be considering voting for SB 572, Mark Leno’s bill that will make May 22 Harvey Milk Day in California. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed identical legislation last year, citing the overly broad impact of declaring a statewide day of significance for a San Francisco County supervisor. The legislation calls for all schools and educational institutions to participate in “exercises remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state.” Apparently the wavering Republicans believe that because SB 572 doesn’t explicitly mandate schools to participate in Harvey Milk Day activities, they can vote in favor or simply abstain. However, legislators should know better than anyone else that “encouragement” from the government eventually turns into … Read More

My earlier blog reporting on CRA and Traditional Values Coalition’s concern about Republicans possibly supporting or abstaining from voting on Harvey Milk Day (SB 572) has elicited quite a response from the capitol. I should be clear that the email alerts I received and capitol sources I talked to indicate Republicans weren’t necessarily going to vote Yes on the bill, but possibly abstain from voting at all. Republican abstentions on such a controversial measure send the wrong message to the governor and constituents.

The theme running throughout each of the phone calls and emails I’ve received today is that people can’t understand why the CRA or TVC would question the votes of any Republican. In addition to reports from capitol insiders, perhaps their trepidation stems from GOP votes (or abstentions) on HR 17, which passed the Assembly just last month. HR 17 proclaims June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. An elaborate ceremony was conducted on the Assembly floor to commemorate the passage of the resolution. Unfortunately,… Read More

Q: Mirror, mirror on the wall – who is the most hypocritical group of all? A: The California Teachers Association, of course.

The California Teachers Association (CTA) has just launched television ads attacking Governor Schwarzenegger for his proposal to suspend the Proposition 98 spending guarantee on education. Let’s remember that education consumes the largest portion of the state’s general fund, which is out of what by like 25%. Of course you have to cut funding to education if you don’t have it.

But the CTA running this ad is total hypocracy because the public employee union is not about "better education" — hardly. The goals of the CTA, like all public employee unions, are two-fold: (1) Increase the salary and… Read More

Republican turned Democrat Long Beach City Councilman Robert Garcia is happy to tell you what to do. After his election to the city council he immediately got down to business to squash all those scofflaws smoking at bus stops.

Now Garcia has a new personal crusade. According to LBReport.com, he wants Long Beach to coerce businesses doing business with the city to give benefits to domestic partnerships. Garcia, who is gay, not that there is anything wrong with that, believes that this is more important the contracting with the qualified lowest bidder.

Of course, taxpayers will pay for the benefits as companies that do business with the city charge more to cover their costs. Other cities that have done this like San Francisco and LA aren’t shining examples of fiscal responsibility.

These ordinances aren’t about the money, they are about forcing their view about homosexuality on business OR making sure people of faith don’t have opportunity to bid on government contracts.

The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce is neutral. They have to be or else. If the issue was forcing businesses to… Read More